Fragile
by walkthemoon17
Summary: She's been diagnosed with heart disease. He's lost his sight in a tragic accident. Both of their lives are in shambles. They're an unlikely pair, but they make it work. (Penname formerly XxPerfectImperfectionxX) Complete.
1. The Boy Next Door

_A month. _She couldn't believe it. It all seemed so…surreal. Like it was all a dream. Like she would wake up at any moment or a camera crew would jump out and tell her that it was all a joke.

No one was laughing.

And if it was a dream, she wasn't waking up.

Lucy had been diagnosed with some kind of heart disease, and while the name was too complex for her to remember, she had known she was going to die. She had somehow always known. She just hadn't expected it to be so _soon._

_A month._

A month until she bit the dust, kicked the bucket, _died. _

It seemed like one of those cheesy, tragic, romance movies. One of those clichés where by some miracle, the girl lives. That was where she went wrong.

It was impossible for her to get back on her feet. She was done for.

She hugged her knees to her chest and inhaled shakily. This couldn't be happening. It seemed like it was just yesterday that she was walking through the doors of her high school, a happy, _normal_, fifteen year-old without a care in the world. It was shocking how fast that had changed. By her junior year, walking from class to class made her breath come in short gasps. She had to be taken out of gym and she couldn't participate in music classes anymore. And by her senior year, she was in the hospital, withering away to nothing while her friends hung out and dated and planned for the future.

She had no future.

She'll never write a bestselling book.

She never even be a _writer._

She'll never get married.

Have children.

_Fall in love._

She gazed darkly out the window, watching the trees sway and listening to the birds' cheery song. It made her sick. She wanted to scream and cry and throw things. It wasn't _fair._ Why can't she be healthy? Sure, she's always been told that God has a plan for everyone, but why couldn't hers be more glamorous? Why couldn't she have become a model, or a famous actress or a teacher or _anything._ Anything would be better than this.

"Hi, Ms. Lucy. How are you today?" Her nurse, Mirajane, asked as she entered Lucy's room with a tray of food and a pill container.

"As good as I possibly can be," Lucy muttered, letting her head fall back against the headboard, hands resting in her lap.

"That's good to hear. Here's your medicine for today, Lucy."

Lucy grunted a response and placed the pill on her tongue, washing it down with some water. She heard screaming from the room adjacent to hers. A flood of nurses and doctors rushed down the hallway in a cloud of frantic phrases and quick, monosyllabic responses. The screams made her blood run cold. They were so full of agony and it sounded like it hurt to _make_ the noise itself.

Mira glanced warily at the door.

"What's wrong?"

"I think he was in a car accident. Most of the boys were severely injured." She said softly. "Enjoy your meal."

Lucy nodded and stared at the tray on her lap. As if. She wasn't hungry anyways.

* * *

"Can I _please_ just walk around the hospital at least? I'm _so bored _and I'm going to go insane if I don't get out of here." Lucy whined, crossing her arms. The red-head, Erza, sighed.

"Fine. But don't do anything too strenuous. You know what that does to your health."

"Yes, yes, I could die, blah blah blah. I get it." Erza helped her up and she didn't complain, knowing how the semi-barbaric female would react to the rejection.

"Remember!" Erza called after her as she walked out of the room. "Take it easy!"

* * *

The halls were surprisingly calm. There were quiet voices in some of the rooms, but around this time of day, most of the patients were sleeping. Rays of sunlight stretched across the linoleum floor. It was a nice day. The sky was a breathtaking blue, the few clouds fluffy and white. She loved spring. She just wished she could enjoy it. It made her chest clench painfully when she thought about everything she couldn't enjoy anymore. Why did she continue to burden everyone? Why didn't she just end it? What was there to live for anymore?

She didn't know.

Sometimes she didn't want to.

It was just so much easier to steer away from the bright side of situations like this. It was so much simpler. More painless. She wouldn't get that sense of loss when she finally did die. Just relief. You could say she had given up. What was the point of trying so desperately to cling to something when you don't even know what it is anymore?

When she reached her room again, she backed up. Lucy peered into the boy's room (you know, the one in the car accident) to see bandages covering nearly his entire body. It was a sad sight. He was completely still, his chest slowly rising with his even breaths. From what she could see, he wasn't too bad to look at, though his hair was a strange color. _Pink._ She liked pink.

"Hello?"

Lucy jumped at his voice. It was a handsome, velvety baritone.

"Who's there?"

Suddenly nervous, she didn't answer and retreated back to her room.

LINEBREAK

From then on, Lucy often stopped by to watch him during her daily rounds. Sometimes he would talk, asking if anyone was there, but Lucy would never reply. Most of the time she would just rush back to her own room to think.

On this day, she noticed some of the bandages, including the ones over his eyes, had been removed. He was facing the window, most likely enjoying the view of the little garden. It must've been nice to finally see again.

He was quiet, so she sat there for a while, jut observing. He slumped against the headboard and stared straight ahead. His expression was seemingly dead and hollow and it sent a shiver up Lucy's spine. Her chest tightened with the threat of a cough. She had been doing that a lot lately. She didn't want to break the silence. She didn't want to talk. All he would do was pity her just like everyone else. She _hated_ pity. She tried to swallow back the urge, but it made it worse, and she found herself gripping the door frame as the coughs painfully tore from her chest. When she finally stopped, her knees buckled and she crumpled to the floor. She looked up to find the boy staring at her. She was about to leave when he spoke.

"Wait."

She froze.

"Please, don't leave," He said softly in a strained voice.

She gathered herself from the ground, and left, his words still hanging in the air.

* * *

**Okay, so yeah. I'm just getting that sad story urge. I couldn't help myself. Really. This won't be a very long one, but I THINK it'll be at LEAST three chapters. Hope ya'll like it. **

**Piece out!**


	2. Crash Course

Lucy doesn't go back to his room for a few days, quickly rushing past it and shutting herself in her room. She doesn't really understand why he makes her so incredibly nervous. And she doesn't understand how he can just look right at her and seemingly not see her. It irks her to no end that he didn't seem to notice her, but if he didn't notice her, then why would he ask if anyone was there? If he had seen her, wouldn't he know? Maybe he just wants to hear it from her. Yeah, that has to be it.

A violent cough rattles Lucy's ribcage, pain shooting through her chest. She leans back against her headboard and sighs, feeling her eyes droop. All this thinking and analyzing is exhausting. Her chest aches, and her head pounds. When she stands up, her head spins and the floor sways beneath her feet. Once she steadies herself, she snatches a piece of bread from her tray on the bedside table and exits her room, promptly crashing right into something.

The force propels her backwards into the ground, triggering a coughing fit that doesn't seem to want to stop any time soon. She finds herself gasping for breath where she can, but that isn't very often.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She knows that voice. It's him.

He kneels down in front of her and awkwardly puts a hand on her shoulder. It's placed so strangely that it seems as if he doesn't really know where he's putting it.

When the hacking ceases, she looks up at him. He's _gorgeous. _He looks like a male model. He has beautiful onyx eyes that seem so easy to get lost in and his skin is smooth and flawless, save for a cut just below his hairline and a yellowing bruise under his eye. Strands of his salmon-pink hair fall into his eyes, the rest of it stylishly messy and slightly wind-blown to the point of looking spiky. His jaw is sharp and angled and his neck was lean and elongated, sloping into rounded, muscular shoulders and toned arms. There's a bandage on his left forearm and folded gauze taped onto one of his shoulders. He wears a gray tank top and the white lounge pants that the hospital provides for the men. They seem a bit big and hang dangerously low on his waist. She finds her face heating up considerably as she studies him. He's absolutely _ravishing._

She was not expecting that at all.

"Um…you alive in there?"

She jumps slightly with a gasp.

He backs away with his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. Calm down."

She lets out a breathy laugh. "No I just...um…sorry. For running into you."

"It's cool. So…who are you exactly? Uh, not to be rude or anything," He says quickly, scratching the back of his neck. His other hand twitches slightly, like he's going to offer his hand to help her up, but he just shoves it in his pocket.

Lucy squints in confusion. "You…you don't know who I am?" How could he not know? He had been _staring straight at her_ a few days ago.

He frowns. "…Should I?"

"I…I guess. I mean, I was outside your—!"

"_You_ were the one outside my door?!" He says suddenly.

Lucy nods sheepishly.

"Um…you still there?"

Is she…what? "Um, yeah. Are you _blind?_ I nodded. Is that not acceptable?" She snaps.

He tucks his chin to his chest. "Yes."

She frowns. "'Yes' what?"

"I'm blind."

* * *

She feels _horrible_ as she sits there in the chair beside his bed and watches his expressions. It's quite amusing, actually. He shows exactly what he's thinking. Right now, his expression is thoughtful.

He reaches his hand towards her, and her chair screeches in protest as she flinches backwards.

"Oh...I'm sorry. I just want to…get an idea of what you look like," he says quietly. So quietly that she isn't quite sure is he's talking to her or himself.

She leans forward a little, but his hand just hangs in the air.

He clears his throat. "A little help here."

Oh right! He doesn't know where her face is. She hesitantly takes his wrist and guides his hand to it. He gently cups her cheek. His hands are warm and gentle as his fingers skim her cheek bones, her closed eyes. They trace the curve of her nose and the slope of her jaw, brushing over her parted lips and across her forehead. His hand falls back into his lap and he offers her a bittersweet smile.

"You seem really pretty."

It's almost sad, the way he says it. It makes her eyes want to tear up. "Thank you."

He smiles a bit more sincerely. "Natsu. Dragneel."

"What?"

"My name."

Summer. How cute.

"I'm Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia," She smiles. When she realizes that he can't see it, she takes his hand and places it over her mouth.

He grins wider.

* * *

She goes to his room every day. They talk for hours about things that don't matter and things other people are too scared to talk about. She tells him about her condition. If he pitied her, he doesn't show it. They talk about everything. She doesn't really notice her fatigue much anymore. She focuses on him instead. The two of them make an odd pair, but she doesn't mind it. She actually likes it better that way.

"Good morning, Natsu!" She greets cheerily as she walks in the door, balancing the tray on one hand to turn the knob.

"Mornin', Luce!" He grins. She blushes at his nickname.

"I-I told you already!" She splutters. "It's L-U-C-Y! _Lucy!"_

He just laughs. "Whatever you say, Luce."

_Jackass. _

"So what did you bring me today?" He asks, obviously excited. Lucy looks down at the tray. On top of it is a slice of key-lime pie and two chocolate chip cookies.

"Just a little treat. I think you'll like it."

"Well what is it?"

Lucy smirks. "You'll have to eat it and find out."

He narrows his eyes. "If you poison me, I'm going to haunt you."

"Duly noted," Lucy chuckles.

Once he finishes and profusely thanks her for the delicious meal, he stands up.

"Ready for a walk?"

"You bet!" She grins.

Lucy takes his hand a leads him out the door, reveling in the warmth of his skin.

"Hey! Lighter-boy!"

Natsu freezes. "Gray?"

Gray? Who's Gray? And what kind of name is that, anyway?

"Yeah, you bastard! I never got to hit you for wrecking my car!" He growled, storming up to Natsu.

Wrecking his car? Natsu did that?

"You were driving, dumbass!" Natsu shot back, lunging at Gray (surprisingly in the right direction, too).

"You distracted me!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did _too!"_

"_Did not!"_

"Flame head!"

"Ice bastard!"

"Torch face!"

"Stripper!"

"Idiot!"

"Underwear princess!"

"It's _prince!_ If you're gonna insult me, at least get the gender right!"

"_Ice princess!"_

"_Why you—!"_

Lucy had had enough. "Guys—!"

Not fast enough. Gray's fist hit him square in the jaw.

"Ow! You little bitch! What was that for?!" Natsu yelled.

Gray looked confused.

Natsu put his hand to his face and frowned. "Gray? Where'd you go?"

"Natsu…" Gray started. "I'm right in front of you. Can't you…see me?"

"No." Natsu said bluntly. "The crash made me blind."

Gray grimaced. "Sorry."

"It's all good." Natsu grinned.

This must've been one of the other guys in the crash. He had messy black hair and a bandage right above his eyebrow, arm tucked into a sling. Were all the people he knew this attractive? Maybe. If they were, then she would have to meet them all. Soon.

_Really _soon.

* * *

Two weeks pass in the blink of an eye. She didn't know she could get this close with someone in that short amount of time. Lucy feels like she can really call him her best friend and _mean it._ He really is her closest friend at this point.

Natsu is fun, loyal, strong, caring, and just a happy, optimistic person that always seems to look for the best in people. She envies that about him. She finds it difficult to see the light in dark situations, but it seems like an instinct for him. He just does without really realizing it.

He never ceases to amaze her.

That's why she's surprised when she finds him crying the next morning, and Natsu Dragneel _didn't cry._ Now, she understands she hasn't really been his friend for very long, but that's something she just _knows._ Something so painfully obvious that it's almost impossible to _not_ know.

He sits in his bed, completely silent, with his knees pulled to his chest. His shoulders shake and she hears him take a shaky breath. She walks across the room and sits next to him on the hospital bed, wordlessly pulling his trembling form to her, shushing him like a mother would to a distressed child. He turns to face her and buries his face in the crook of her neck.

"She's dead," She hears. "I just….she's…d-dead…"

"Who, Natsu?" Lucy asks gently.

"My friend, Lisanna, she's _dead,"_ He says quietly. "She _died."_

Lucy threads her fingers through his salmon hair and rests her chin on the crown of his head. He lets out this horrible, broken _sob_, and she understands. He must've loved this girl. She must've died because of the car crash. She feels a wave of sympathy wash through her body and she holds him tighter, letting him cry and soak the front of her shirt. She doesn't mind.

When he calms down a bit, she pries his face from her collar bone and cradles it in her palms. It's streaked with tears and his eyes are slightly puffy and rimmed with red. His dull, sightless eyes are glassy, liquid still pooling in the corners of them. She wipes a tear from his cheek with her thumb and he covers her hand with his own.

"Who is Lisanna?" Lucy asks cautiously. She knows how delicate this can be. He amazes her once again and just smiles sadly.

"A good friend. She was like a sister to me. I'll really..." He trails off, covering his mouth with his hand.

She knows how that sentence ends. Miss her. He'll really miss her, and the tone of his voice makes her cringe, though she doesn't know why.

Lucy pulls him into a hug again, but he doesn't cry. He just sits there in her arms, allowing himself to be held. After a while he hugs her back and inhales deeply.

Her heart swells, chest tightening, but this has nothing to with her disease. She knows exactly what this is.

She won't tell him, though.

Now is not the time.

She'll hold him and be his friend because right now, it's all she can do.

She wants to be more.

And she'll wait—as long as she has left—until that's what he wants her to be, too.

* * *

**Alrighty, chapter 2 DONE! So this is going to be three parts. I originally though it was going to be more, but I don't really plan before I write. I'm kind of stupid like that. I feel kind of bad for killing Lisanna off. I like her, just not with Natsu, of course. They don't have as much chemistry, in my opinion. If you don't agree, then too bad :P Next is the last chapter! **

**Title is..._Heart Shaped Box _**

**Has nothing to do with a box, for the record. **

**Thank you, lovely reviewers! I love you all! (Oh and...the faster those reviews come in, the faster I'll finish the story, kay? I can wait. ;D)**

**Oh, and PM me prompts for Fairy Tail, Soul Eater, Darker Than Black, aaaand that's about it. Just don't be vague in your ideas and I'll probably get them written for you! Please? I love requests. **

**AND REVIEWS. NATSU WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER IF YOU REVIEW.**


	3. Heart Shaped Box

_You can take my heart if yours won't beat._

_Forever Unstoppable._

_If you're torn apart, I'll make you see that nothing's impossible._

* * *

The sun warms his face, children's squeals and laughter ringing in his ears. He's sitting on the bench in front of the play ground that was built for the kids who were well enough to move around freely. He knows this only because Lucy tells him things like this. He feels helpless and vulnerable, sitting there. All he sees is blackness. He closes his eyes, opens them again, but nothing changes. It makes him grit his teeth. Natsu sighs and lets his head fall back, eyes closed.

"Mister, are you okay?"

Natsu jumps.

"Did I scare you?"

It sounds like a little boy. He feels himself smile at the thought. He wonders what the boy looks like. His smile falls when he realizes that he'll never find out.

"A bit, but it's alright." Natsu grins again.

"Hey, Mister, can we be friends? I don't really have any here." The boy asks. His voice is glum.

Natsu pats the place beside him. "Sure thing, kiddo. Have a seat."

"Are you sad?"

"Nah, I'm alright. My name's Natsu, by the way."

"I'm Romeo!" Natsu can hear the smile in his voice. He wants to see it. It hurts that he can't.

It makes him want to leave.

He doesn't.

* * *

Natsu sits with the Romeo for a while until he goes back to playing on the playground. He guesses a kid of his age would get bored talking to someone like him. He can't do much of anything anymore.

"_Hey! Igneel! Igneel! Look at this!"_

_Natsu jumps off the top of the swing set, the impact of the force jars his knees upwards into his chin. His teeth clack together rather painfully, but the boy just brushes it off and stands up, a large grin—sans a front tooth—spread across his face. _

_Igneel applauds for a moment before beckoning for Natsu to go over to him. Natsu charges towards his foster-father and laughs when big hands grad him under his armpits and lift him into the air. _

"_Careful there, kiddo. Don't want to hurt yourself, now do you?" _

_Natsu eagerly shakes his head. Igneel laughs and sets him on his shoulders. _

The memory makes his chest ache and throat tighten. He sighs.

"Natsu-nii! Natsu-nii! Watch this!"

_Romeo._

He hears kids laughing and whooping as Romeo performs some supposedly amazing feat, but he can't watch. He wants to so badly, but he can't.

"Natsu-nii! Did you see me? Did you?" Romeo asks excitedly. "Natsu-nii?"

Natsu doesn't answer, but smiles. It feels empty and fake. He feels his jaw clench and his breath catch.

_Don't cry._

_Don't cry._

_Don't cry. _

_Don't—_

"Natsu-nii, you're eyes are closed."

—_cry._

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

_Breathe._

_You're fine._

"I'm blind, Romeo."

The words feel foreign on his tongue. It feels like part of a scrip he had to memorize. They feel fake. Like they didn't mean anything. Like they aren't true. They leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

"…What?" Romeo says quietly.

"I'm blind," Natsu repeats. "I can't see you. I can't see anything."

His voice doesn't sound like his own. He doesn't like it.

Natsu feels a small hand on his face and he stiffens for a moment. A finger brushes against his eyelid and his slowly opens them.

"But they're so pretty," Romeo insists. "How can they not work if they're so pretty?"

He feels Romeo's hands on his cheeks and shrugs.

"I dunno. I was in a car accident and something happened. Maybe I hit my head too hard."

"That stinks…" Romeo mutters.

"No kidding," Natsu agrees.

"Natsu! What're you doing out here all by your—oh! Hi there!"

Lucy.

"Hey Luce. I'm just talking to my friend, Romeo." He says, stretching his arm across the back of the bench as she sits down. He hears the boards creak under her weight.

"What's your name?" Romeo asks.

"Lucy. And yours?"

"Romeo! Hey Lucy-nee, aren't his eyes pretty?"

Lucy nods. "Very."

Natsu smiles in her general direction. "Luce, what color are your eyes?"

"Brown. So drab, right?"

Natsu shakes his head. "No, I bet their prettier than mine."

He tries to imagine her. Does she have blonde hair or brown hair? Is she tall or short? Bigger or lean? Does she wear glasses? Does she—

He's interrupted by horrible hacking and feels Lucy's body shaking with every violent cough. She sounds like she's having trouble breathing.

"Lucy?"

"Nats—!"

More coughing.

Romeo sounds panicked. "Levy-neechan!

Lucy's suddenly gone. Where'd she go? Did someone take her? Where did she go?!

"_Igneel? Igneel, where are you?"_

_Natsu pads through the empty house, searching for his father, but to no avail. There's no sign of him anywhere. Natsu feel his pulse quicken with fear._

"_Igneel?! This isn't funny! Stop it! This isn't funny, Igneel!"_

_He runs from room to room, swinging doors open, looking under beds under pillows, in cabinets; everywhere. _

_Nothing. _

_He spots a note on the table._

_**Natsu,**_

_**Be good.**_

_It was scribbled so fast that Natsu could barely read it. It was Igneel's handwriting. _

_Natsu waited for him to come back…_

…_but he didn't._

* * *

She's been getting worse. She knows that she shouldn't be walking around so much with Natsu, but she can't help herself. She hides her heavy breathing from him; forces herself to breathe normally which makes her light-headed. She doesn't want him to worry. He has enough to worry about.

Doctors swarm around her, pressing and oxygen mask to her face, prodding fingers with no sense of personal space feeling for her pulse. It's suffocating. When did she get back in her room? Where's Natsu? She wants him to be here. She's scared. Pain shoots through her chest and she cringes, the room spinning. The mask forces oxygen down her throat and it _burns_ and needs to come off now. She claws at it, but hands hold her writs down.

"Lucy, you need to relax. You're going to give yourself a heart attack."

That does it. She freezes, clamps her eyes shut, and focuses on her heart beat, on slowing it down. After a few minutes, the doctors don't need to restrain her anymore, but they put breathing tubes up her nose and connect it to a tank full of air. She feels like a senior citizen.

"Luce? You in here?"

It's Natsu.

"Natsu, you know Lucy?" A blue-haired girl—Levy—asks.

Natsu nods. "Can I talk to her?"

Levy nods and he slowly feels his way to the side of the bed. His hand touches her face, runs along the seam of her lips, the tubes in her nose, and smoothes over the crease between her eyebrows, forcing her face to relax.

"Don't worry." He says. "It's alright."

She nods and takes his hand, lacing their fingers together.

"Stay with me? Please?"

* * *

_Beepbeepbeepbeep. _

Her pulse is much too fast. Sweat drips down her forehead. Everything is suddenly in slow motion. Her blood feels as thick as syrup and it sluggishly forces itself through her veins. It hurts. Everything hurts. She can't think of anything but Natsu.

She loves him.

She loves him.

She loves him, but she's dying, but she _loves him._

She never got to say it. She didn't have enough time. She never has enough time. It's too late. No turning back now. She doesn't try to fight this strange feeling. Her heart slows. She can _feel _ it. She knows there are other people in the room, but her beating heart is all she hears. She can feel the muscle straining, tiring, _struggling_ to continue to serve its purpose.

She suddenly realizes something.

She doesn't want to die anymore.

She _can't _die.

Natsu.

The moment she finds something to live for, everything slips through her fingers.

* * *

She's alive. She can't believe she's alive. She wakes up in her hospital bed with an IV, a heart monitor—steadily informing her that the organ was still working—and a glass of water beside her bed.

Natsu? Where's Natsu?

She needs to tell him this exciting news.

She needs to tell him she loves him.

She needs to—

A note. It's underneath the cup of water. She picks up and sees that it is addressed to her. The handwriting is a messy scrawl. She slowly unfolds the letter.

_You had my attention from the very beginning, but now you have my heart. I love you._

_-Natsu_

No.

_No._

This can't be happening.

He didn't—

He _couldn't—_

_No._

She reads the letter over and over again, tears dripping onto the page.

He's gone.

He said he would stay with her.

He _promised._

But he's gone.

She places a hand over her-_his_-heart, a smile toying with the corners of her mouth.

He's not gone.

He never really left in the first place.

* * *

**Well damn, that's depressing. I cried. I seriously cried. WHY DO I WRITE SUCH SAD STORIES?! WHY?! I dunno. I like tear-jerkers for some reason. And fluff. Lots and lots of fluff. I had this idea while listening to "Forever Unstoppable" by Hot Chelle Rae. Ya know, that line up at the very top? Yeah. God, I need to write a super happy fluffy story. REVIEW PEOPLE! KEEP 'EM COMING! And request some stuff I need some projects :) Thanks again.**

**Hope you enjoyed it. **


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